Morning Visit
by androidilenya
Summary: Q visits a retired Picard to make him an offer. Set many years after the TV series ended, in France. Non-slash. Please review! Completed.


The sun was rising over the still, green countryside, accompanied by birdsong. the sky was a blinding blue, studded with perfectly fluffy clouds like featherbeds, and overall it was just another amazing beginning to another amazing day in the amazing country of France.

"Sickening. Absolutely sickening."

A glittering cloud drifted over the wrought-iron fence of a nearby chateau and pressed against the wide window as if peering in. Inside, a bald, stooped-over man in his late nineties was pouring himself a cup of Earl Grey tea. Humming to himself, the man shuffled stiffly into the living room on arthritic knees. The cloud disappeared and re-materialized in the form of a man next to the elderly human.

"How you have changed, mon capitaine."

Jean-Luc Picard sighed and, without looking up, addressed the omnipotent being that had appeared in his living room. "Q. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I just thought that I hadn't seen you in a few decades, and decided to check up on you. I see that you finally lost the rest of your hair," the man said, smirking as he settled himself on Picard's couch. Dressed in a Starfleet admiral's uniform, Q still looked the same as when Picard had met him all those years ago, at Farpoint Station. A cup of tea materialized in his hands and he took a sip, looking at Picard. "How's retired life treating you?"

"Very well." Obviously Q wasn't going to be going away anytime soon, so Picard might as well talk to him. Old age did get rather lonely, what with all of one's friends dying and all that, and it _had_ been a few decades since he'd seen Q.

Not that he would ever admit, even to himself, that he had missed the exasperating immortal.

"You never seemed like the type that would settle down peacefully."

"And yet here I am, happily retired. I'll ask you again: why are you here?"

"I don't believe you are. Happy, that is. As to why I'm here: I do believe I have already told you that. Are you growing senile in your old age? Having memory problems, perhaps?"

"Hardly." Picard sat down in an armchair across from Q and pulled out a book.

"What, are you going to ignore me because you can't order me to... what was it? Oh yes... 'tell me why you're here or get the hell off my ship!' And I don't suppose you can throw me in the brig, since your mansion, sophisticated as it is, simply does not have those facilities. Ah, how I miss the good old days!"

Picard raised an eyebrow. "You? Getting sentimental in our old age, are we?"

"No, no, that's exactly my problem," Q sighed, sounding almost sad. " You mortals are so short-lived... I take a couple centuries off and boom! Everyone I knew is dead. Happens all the time."

"I suppose that's one of the downsides of being an omnipotent immortal, hmm?" Picard asked dryly.

"Yes, it is. Which is why I have come to ask you to join me."

"Excuse me?"

"You know, become an 'omnipotent immortal' and avoid this whole terrible aging thing. i remember so _vividly_ being human that one time, and... ugh! Terrible!" Q shivered at the memory. "I don't know _how_ you _stand_ it, and I was only human for a day!"

Picard laughed. "You haven't changed one bit. You still don't understand very much about us humans, do you? No, I don't want to be immortal."

"I will never understand your sense of humor."

"..."

"...you weren't joking, were you?"

"No, I wasn't."

"What?" Q choked on a mouthful of tea, spraying it all over the front of his admiral's uniform. He stared at the former captain in disbelief, frowning. "But... but you could be _young_ again! You wouldn't ever have to _die_!"

Picard out the book aside, looking at Q thoughtfully. "Funny, that. I'm far beyond any petty fears of death. And youth? What's the point of being young if all the people you love are dead?"

"You'd have me~"

"Oh, that really tempts me. An eternity with _you._" Picard said sarcastically.

"You wound me deeply. You should be thankful for this gift."

"I never asked for it."

"Fine, I'll bring your darling doctor back to life. Happy? Now there's nothing standing in your way."

The former captain of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ shook his head. "No. I'm human... I'm _mortal_. I have to accept the facts of my existence just as every other human does at some point in their lives. Those facts being that I will die no matter what, and all I can do is choose the manner. I will not run from death now."

Q pouted and Picard reflected on the fact that he really hadn't changed- he was still an all-powerful being with the emotional development of a five-year-old.

"Why do you care so much? Does the Q Continuum need more members that badly?"

"No, no. this was a purely selfish quest. i've missed you, Jean-Luc."

"How unlike you, Q."

"You are my only friend," Q said baldly. "I shall miss you terribly when you die, I suppose."

"I will be counting on you for a particularly spectacular funeral. Arrange a supernova or something along those lines."

"Stop joking. I'm serious."

"What a role reversal. Usually I'm the one saying that."

Q sighed. "I admit that I have been a touch... annoying at times-"

"Annoying? That would be the understatement of the century. You're about as annoying as the Borg were a minor threat. Speaking of which-"

"Oh, you can't _still_ blame for that!"

"..."

"Now, really, why don't you want to be like me? Have the ability to toy with oblivious mortals? Be able to change the gravitational constant of the universe? Mess with all the idiots in Starfleet?"

"You're hardly doing the best job of selling this."

"Really? But why don't you want this? Why am I having to convince you?"

"Because, on a strictly moral level, it's wrong. I shouldn't accept a power that I forbade my first officer to accept all those years ago. And I will not be such a coward as to try and escape death. I've accepted it and will face it with honor. I refuse to try and weasel my way out of it by accepting this gift. It's not fair."

"Honor? How very like microbrain."

"Klingon ideas have more merit than you give them. Allow me to quote Worf: 'it is a good day to die.'"

Q rolled his eyes. "I see I can't convince you. Sure you won't reconsider?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Well, there are more pressing things for me to worry about." He stood to leave.

"Really?" Picard smiled.

"Well, no... but I've always hated long goodbyes. Ah, well, I'll miss you, mon capitaine. But don't think you've seen the last of me."

"I doubt I ever will," Picard responded.

Q snapped his fingers. There was a flash of white light and he disappeared.

Picard picked up his cup of tea and realized that it had gone cold. Muttering irritably under his breath, he got up to refill it.

Suddenly the cup grew hot in his hands, steam rising from the dark brown liquid. Picard frowned. _I'm sure that it was cold just a moment before... maybe I really am going crazy..._

Then the steam twisted in an unnatural yet familiar way. Q's face popped up in the steam and winked.

"Au revoir, mon capitaine. Enjoy your tea!"

Picard stared at the cup for a full minute after Q's face had disappeared, then burst out laughing.

_He's never changed. I doubt he ever will. Ah, I don't doubt that he'll miss me... and I suppose, if I was totally honest with myself, I'd admit that I've missed him, too._

Picard picked up his book and turned the page, taking a sip of his tea. Other than the newly hot beverage, it was as if the immortal had never visited.

* * *

><p><strong>Just a bit of randomness that took me about half an hour to write. Hope you liked it. This is proof that I can write a 'just friends' story without it becoming a slash fanfiction. <strong>

**Please review!**

**-a**


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